Façade
by within reason
Summary: She's his cousin. At least, that's what they want the world to think. [Roxaminé]
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Naminé sighed contentedly. She was lounging in a warm bath, eyes closed, recuperating after a long, exhausting plane ride. It had been especially agonizing because of some random baby on the plane that had been wailing its heart out the entire time. She had been unable to fall asleep and as soon as her family had reached their destination she ran into the bathroom, locked the door, and drawn a bath for herself.

She heard voices going past the door. She opened her eyes. She sighed again, but this time out of relative despair. Naminé was an only child, and her parents had never really been in tune with her feelings. They had decided, her junior year of high school, to go on a year-long tour of the world. For just the two of them and two family friends. Those two family friends were married, and they too had one child. These two sets of parents had been friends for a long time, and so they felt no qualms about sticking their kids together for a year as they traveled the globe.

Unfortunately, the two of them had never met. Naminé had no idea who this kid was, and her parents were too occupied with travel plans to tell her very much. She could remember asking them a couple weeks ago when they announced their plans.

"…So, you want me to live with some random kid I've never seen in my life?" she had asked them, rather incredulously.

Her mother had simply laughed. "You've met him before. When you were very young."

Naminé had raised her eyebrows. "It's a boy?"

Her father looked up from the pamphlets he had been reading. "He's your age. I'm sure you two will get along fine."

Naminé had paused. She really didn't want to stay with a boy. For a year. "Why can't I go with you?"

Her father had looked sternly at her over the rim of his glasses. "We're done with our education. You, on the other hand, are not."

"Why couldn't you have gone when I was in college? When I wasn't living with you?!" She was usually very composed, but this was something big. "Why couldn't you have done this for a week, not a year?"

"Naminé." Her mother also looked sternly at her. What was with adults and stern looks? "Don't whine. It's not becoming."

Silence had ensued, and the conversation had ended rather abruptly. Naminé had fumed in her room for a couple hours before calling her friends and telling them that she would not be going to school with them next year. Apparently this kid lived far away, so she would basically have to rebuild her entire life.

The weeks had flown by and the family had traveled to Naminé's new "home." By then she had resigned herself to her unfortunate fate – her parents were very firm, and what they said was what happened.

Naminé had been stewing in the bath for forty-five minutes now. There were two bathrooms in the apartment she was to stay in, but with four other people (the kid was out somewhere with friends and the four parents didn't have to leave for their flight to Australia for another half an hour or so) in the premises, she was sure that one bathroom probably didn't serve them well.

She stepped out of the bath, grabbed a towel, and wrapped it around her body. She could tell that the parents were in the kitchen, laughing. Her things were in the room a door down from the bathroom, and she had been planning on quickly stealing into her room to change. So, she hadn't brought any clothes with her into the bathroom.

She was standing in front of the tub, watching the water drain away when she heard the bathroom door open behind her. She whipped around to see a boy (she assumed it was _the _kid) standing there, eyes wide. Her mouth dropped open as her eyes flitted from the unlocked door to the boy. Her first reaction was to scream.

"Get out!" She ran for the door, slammed it, and firmly locked it. She couldn't believe it. A boy had just walked in on her in the bathroom! Alright, she had a towel on, but it was only a towel! Breathing heavily, she pressed her ear to the door.

She heard pounding footsteps run towards the kitchen. "Dad! Since when was there – " He must have seen her parents. "Um. Hello." There was an awkward silence.

"Roxas, dear! I haven't seen you in such a long time!" Her mother was the speaker. "You've grown so much."

Naminé sighed in relief. Now they were in conversation for at least thirty more seconds. She had time to run to her new room. She quietly unlocked the door, looked around cautiously, and bolted. Once safely inside her room, she changed in a matter of minutes and then walked, still fuming, into the kitchen.

She saw the boy – Roxas, his name was? – sitting sheepishly at the table as his parents talked about him. "Naminé!" Her father stood up. "This is Roxas."

She paused and fixed her eyes on the blond boy, who was deliberating avoiding her gaze. "Yes. I know."

"Naminé…" her father looked at her warningly. She wasn't being polite, was she?

She plastered on a smile. If Roxas was smart, he would be able to tell it was fake. "Hello, Roxas. I'm Naminé. It's very nice to meet you." She stuck her hand out for him to shake.

He still didn't meet her eyes. "Nice to meet you too." He shook her hand and quickly dropped it.

"So!" Roxas' mother stood up from the table. She looked at her watch. "We really should be going now." There was a scuffle of movement as all the parents got up from their chairs and went into the front room to get their things.

Roxas and Naminé followed, keeping the distance between them. As they were leaving, Roxas' mother turned around. "You know our phone numbers and the hotel numbers, right, Roxas? I left them all by the phone in the kitchen. It has our entire trip plan there. If you need anything, don't hesitate to call."

His father also turned around. "Just don't call in the middle of the night. Try to be aware of the time zones!" And they left without another word.

An awkward silence settled upon the two teenagers as they stood rather stoically in front of the door. Naminé was feeling distinctly uncomfortable – she didn't want the whole year to be as awkward as this, but the boy had walked in on her in the bathroom…!

There was a cough. Roxas had pivoted on his heel and was walking towards the kitchen. Naminé watched him leave, and then walked into her room. She didn't bother locking the door. She pulled out her laptop from one of the boxes she had sent over and turned it on. She decided to play The Sims and inserted the CD.

A real-time hour and four burned-down stoves later, Naminé grew bored. The silence in the apartment was uncanny and unnerving. She decided to go into the kitchen, where she assumed Roxas would be. Boys and food usually went well together… but unfortunately, no one was there. She wanted to apologize for screaming at him.

She heard a door slam. "He must have gone out again," she sighed, talking to no one in particular. She wandered around the kitchen aimlessly for a couple minutes, and then decided that she needed to use the bathroom. She walked down the surprisingly long hallway and pushed open the door.

Naminé hadn't been expecting anything of the bathroom – it was just a bathroom, after all – but she had not been expecting Roxas to be in there. He was mostly undressed, except for his boxers, and was clearly preparing to take a shower. So he hadn't been going out after all.

Her hand was still on the doorknob when she saw him. "Uhh…" was the most coherent response she could give. Thankfully, Roxas seemed to be somewhat more composed than her. He didn't even look at her. "Damn, what is wrong with the lock on this door?!" He grabbed the knob on the other side of the door and slammed it closed.

There was a moment's silence, and then –

"Um, I'm going to make dinner now." Naminé ventured. She paused before gingerly making her way into the kitchen.

While she was walking, Roxas' voice wafted out of the bathroom. "Okay." She heard the water turn on.

Well, at least he didn't seem _that_ mad.

She had just finished making pasta when Roxas emerged, fully clothed, from the bathroom. His hair was still wet but it had already reformed the usual spikes. He hung around Naminé as she finished stirring; then, he got out two bowls and handed them to her. "Oh, thanks…" she said, rather uncertainly, as she spooned macaroni and cheese into the bowls.

They seated themselves in silence and began to eat. Naminé was mid-bite when she finally decided to say something. "Roxas – I'm so sorry about that. Back there."

He did not look up from his bowl.

Now she was afraid that he was angry. "…Roxas?"

Roxas still refused to look up, but he did say something. "It's okay, really. I… I walked in on you too, so I guess we're even." He half-mumbled this.

Annoyance passed over Naminé's face (Roxas, obviously, did not see). "Roxas." She looked straight at his hair, where his eyes should have been if he hadn't been staring down his food. "Roxas, look at me."

He looked up. Rather reluctantly. While still chewing.

She had had something to say, but she hadn't expected him to look up. That surprised her. "Um." What was she going to say?! "I – I really don't want this to be – to be more awkward than it already is. So would you please – " she emphasized the word, " – _please_ talk to me?"

There was silence. He swallowed. "What do you want me to say?"

Naminé stirred her macaroni nervously. "I don't know. Something about yourself? I don't really know you…" she trailed off feebly.

Roxas raised his eyebrows, and then leaned back in his chair. "Well, I'm Roxas, as you seem to know, seeing as you've said it a lot in the past minute." He continued to talk about himself – so much, in fact, that Naminé felt as if she knew everything about him.

He was just about to tell her about all of his friends at school when she interrupted him. "Why are you telling me all of this? I'm sure I don't need to know all of this."

He looked at her as if she was retarded. "School starts tomorrow. There's a strange girl" – Namine was affronted – "Well, you're new around here. Anyways, there's a new girl living with me. It's just the two of us. I've told all my friends that we're cousins." He gestured to her. "And that won't be hard to believe, since we do have some physical resemblances." Naminé assumed he was referring to the fact that both were blond and had blue eyes (they were a little different, but if his friends were that dim-witted…).

"That doesn't mean I have to know everything about you!" Naminé had grown irritated over Roxas' monologue.

Roxas chuckled and leaned over the table towards her. "You see, I'm generally very close to my extended family members. You," he waved his spoon at her, "are no exception."

She waved her spoon back at him. "Then you should know something about me." She paused, thinking of what to say, and then realized something – "And you should start referring to me by my name, if we're cousins."

"Right… uh… ?" He seemed to have forgotten her name.

"Naminé." She glared at him.

"I'm only kidding. Right, Naminé." He smirked.

"Of course."

"No, seriously, go on. Tell me about yourself."

She cast him an irritated glance. He raised his eyebrows. "Go on, dear Naminé."

"We might pretend to be related, but never, _never_ put 'dear' in front of my name again."

---------------------------------------------

The next day dawned bright and crisp, and Naminé was waiting for Roxas to lead her to school. The former had spent fifteen minutes putting on his uniform while Naminé waited patiently for him in the sitting room, dressed, watching the morning news.

Roxas ran out of his room, looking rather frazzled. "Sorry," he told her, adjusting his tie. "They decided to change uniforms this year and I accidentally lost part of it." He pulled on the navy blazer that completed the outfit.

Naminé stood up from her comfortable seat on the sofa. "What did the old uniform look like?" she asked, as the two walked out of the apartment. She pushed the down button for the elevator.

Roxas was still pulling at his tie. "Umm… basically, it was just the dress shirt and tie." He paused. "Oh, and the pants. Or skirt, in your case. They changed some of the colors this year."

Naminé looked down. Generally, she was pleased with the uniform. It consisted of a white shirt, red tie, a bizarrely colored sweatervest, the navy blazer, and a gray skirt (gray pants for Roxas). "Well, I like this one…"

Roxas sighed. "I don't, really. Much more trouble than it's worth." The elevator was descending. There was silence as the doors opened and they walked out. Even after their talk, there was still awkwardness between the two. It had only been one day – what else was Naminé expecting?

Roxas walked the short distance to the school, Naminé trailing a small distance behind him, taking in her surroundings. When they finally got there, Roxas ran to talk to some boy – someone she assumed to be his best friend, Sora. They were talking animatedly. She walked past them, still looking around, when Roxas turned to her. "And this," he grabbed Naminé's sleeve, "is my cousin, Naminé, the one I told you about last week, remember?"

Sora smiled. She could tell, instantly, that he was beyond nice. "Hi, Naminé! I'm Sora." He stuck out his hand for her to shake.

Naminé returned the smile. "Nice to meet you, Sora." She shook his hand.

Sora looked down at his watch. "Ah, sorry, Roxas, Naminé – " he gave a polite nod in her direction, " – I have to go, meet Kairi, you know…"

Roxas and Naminé waved him off. Roxas, who was taller than Naminé, bent down to whisper in her ear. "Kairi's his girlfriend – I don't think I mentioned her. Anyways, I forgot to tell you about this one girl, her name is – "

There came an earsplitting squeal from behind Naminé. It was loud enough to make her scream (she used all her self-restraint to keep from doing so), but not loud enough so that the entire school could hear. "Roxas!"

Roxas jumped two feet away from Naminé. "Ah, damn…" Roxas muttered, grimacing, before turning around to brightly smile at the owner of the voice. "Hi, Olette…"

This Olette girl, it seemed to Naminé, radiated hyperactivity and energy. "How was your summer?"

Roxas shrugged. "Fine, I guess." There was a pause, and he seemed to have suddenly remembered Naminé. "Oh, Olette, this is my cousin, Naminé. She's going to be staying with me for a year, since our parents are gone."

Olette nodded. "Nice to meet you, Naminé!" She waved lightly. Naminé inclined her head politely and smiled. "I've got to be off, Roxas, I'm late for a student council meeting…"

Roxas waved. "See you later, Olette."

When she was out of sight, Roxas turned back to Naminé. "Sorry about that. Olette…" he stopped to think. "Olette likes me. A lot. And if you weren't my cousin and she knew that we lived together, she might come kill you."

Naminé looked affronted. "But I'm not related to you."

Roxas looked around nervously. "Which is why you can't let anyone know. Gossip here spreads like wildfire, and if anyone even gets a hint that you're not my cousin…" He drew his finger along his neck.

Naminé got the message.

* * *

**Author's Note:**  
This story isn't that unrealistic, I hope. Not to me, at least – one of my friends' parents will be doing this in a year or so. "This" being abandoning their kids and traveling around the world :D And I half can't believe I'm writing Kingdom Hearts right now, especially in the wake of Deathly Hallows, which was, by the way, spectacular (five hours of reading).

I really have nothing against Olette. I think she's a fantastic character in-game but because I'm also not too keen on making an OC and because I need another female character outside of Naminé and Kairi, Olette's my guinea pig :) I hope you enjoyed this new story.

Thanks to those of you who read this story! I am eternally grateful.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Roxas had told Naminé to come find him during lunch. He was to introduce her to the rest of his friends, and he had drilled it into her head that they were cousins. "If anyone asks, _you are my cousin._" He had said this eleven times before they had parted ways. They didn't have any classes together, so Roxas had waved her off in the general direction of her calculus class and then walked off without sparing her a second glance.

So Naminé had worked her way through the halls to her classroom. As she had walked in, the teacher had told her that she would not be assigning seats until the next day, so Naminé chose a seat in the second row. She didn't want to seem to prudish, sitting in the front row, but didn't want to come off as a slacker, sitting in the back.

She sat there in relative silence, idly doodling on a piece of paper as other students began filling the room. Class was due to start in two minutes when, lo and behold, Olette walked into the room. She was talking animatedly to an older boy with longish silver hair. She spotted Naminé sitting there and sat down next to her.

"Naminé!" Olette greeted her cheerfully. "I didn't know you were in this class too!"

Naminé looked up from the scribbles on her paper. "Oh, well… I am." She finished, rather lamely.

"Anyways." Olette gestured at the boy who had taken a seat next to her. "This is Riku. He's a senior. Riku, this is Naminé, Roxas' cousin."

Naminé rolled her eyes. So she was just "Roxas' cousin," was she? It was as bad as being called someone's sister.

"It's a pleasure, Naminé." Riku smiled at her, but it seemed empty, and as she looked into his eyes, she found that the smile did not reach all the way there.

"You too." Naminé nodded rather curtly, as class began.

"Welcome to Calculus," the teacher announced grandly. Naminé heard Riku snort. "This is not an easy subject, so I hope you're all prepared for a long year. Now, before I take role, we're going to distribute textbooks – "

There was an audible groan from the class. The teacher looked completely nonplussed. "If you want to drop out of this class, you have one week for schedule changes. Now, come get your books."

Everyone scrambled out of the seats to get the newest, least tattered book. Naminé really didn't care how bad the cover was, just as long as the inside wasn't scribbled on. She grabbed a book, only to find that Riku had taken the other half of the book.

"Oh, sorry about that," and she dropped the book. "I'll find another one…"

Riku looked puzzled, and then smiled again. This was slightly less fake than the one before. "No, you take it."

Naminé didn't even look at him. She was too engrossed in finding another suitable book. She opened one and flipped through it. "No, it's fine, really," she waved at hand at him, and he walked off, still rather puzzled.

Calculus passed without much incident, and she walked off to her next class. English. That and her third class, history, went uneventfully, and she was thankful for the lunch break.

She found Roxas' distinctive hair among the crowd of milling students trying to find lunch tables. "Roxas!" she called, and walked over to him.

"Oh, hello," he said, rather distractedly. "Um, I'm trying to find everyone… having some problems…"

Naminé looked incredulously at him as he peered around the cafeteria. It wasn't that big, and anyone with Sora's hair would stick out. Just like Roxas did.

"Ah!" Roxas pointed to the far side of the cafeteria. "I see Kairi over there…" and without another word, he started walking in their direction. Naminé hadn't seen anyone, and was clearly baffled by his sudden epiphany.

When they reached the table, Roxas sat down and didn't pay attention to Naminé. Naminé thought this was rather rude of him – he should be showing her around. But obviously he had more important things to do, like talk to his other friends.

Naminé lingered at the head of the table for a few more seconds before sitting next to a reddish-haired girl, who immediately turned to her. "You're Naminé, aren't you?"

Naminé was surprised. She herself was rather shy, and to have someone suddenly approach her like that - ! "Um, yeah. I'm Roxas' – "

The girl interrupted her and smiled. "I know, Roxas told us about you during class. I'm Kairi."

A look of comprehension dawned on Naminé's face. So this was Sora's girlfriend! She was pretty. And nice, from what Naminé had seen in the past eleven seconds. "It's nice to meet you, Kairi." Naminé smiled back and pulled out her lunch from her bag.

"Naminé, you haven't met everyone here, have you?" Kairi asked her. Because she was in the middle of chewing something, Naminé merely shook her head. Kairi took it upon herself to introduce everyone. "Okay, Naminé… I'll give you be brief rundown."

"Well, obviously you know Roxas, and there's Sora," she smiled at him, and he returned it, "um, and that guy with the camera's Pence, and next to him is Hayner. And there should be two more people… where _are _they?"

Just as Kairi was saying this, however, the two in question sat down, laughing. "Sorry, we ran into some traffic in the halls," came the giggly voice of Olette. Riku, still smiling, sat down next to her.

"Oh, look who it is." Kairi smiled, rather blandly. "Yeah, Naminé, these are…"

Naminé swallowed. "Oh, no, I've met them before. They're in my math class."

Kairi looked surprised. "You're in their math class?" She paused. "Whatever. Yeah, that's basically the entire gang."

Naminé nodded. There was a lull in the conversation. An awkward one, to be precise.

"So, Naminé, what brings you here?" Kairi wanted to know the whole situation.

Throughout the rest of lunch, Naminé told her about the whole situation, but still maintained that she was Roxas' cousin. She almost said that their families were just very good friends, but caught herself just in time. The lunch period ended with Kairi offering to show Naminé around town after school, which she gladly accepted.

-

Naminé had been afraid that she would have trouble finding Kairi after school, but it turned out that Kairi was in her last class (home economics). Arm in arm, and after a quick goodbye to Sora, Kairi had dragged Naminé around town. To the malls, to the restaurants, to the parks, and now they were sitting in a small restaurant, drinking milkshakes.

"Now," Kairi paused for dramatic effect, as Naminé giggled, "I'm going to tell you about some of our school's dynamics."

Naminé sobered immediately. "Don't tell me that my new school is as stratified as all the clichéd schools in the movies."

Kairi grimaced. "Well, no, not exactly. You know our school's a private school, and it isn't exactly the cheapest place to go."

Naminé nodded. Her parents had raised their eyebrows when the tuition fees had been mailed to them. "Go on."

"But even within this… uh, society of ours, there are those who are more privileged than others." Kairi's expression worsened. "I hate to say this, and I hate being a part of it, but our circle of friends – Roxas included – we're all… _up there."_

"Now that isn't vague at all," Naminé said serenely, stirring her drink. "But yeah, I get it."

Kairi half-smiled. "It sucks, you know? Everyone's watching everything we do. Well, not really me," she breathed out in relief, "but mostly Sora, Roxas, and Riku."

"Them? Why?" Naminé raised an eyebrow.

"Because!" Kairi spluttered. "Because they're the, well, most sought-after guys in the entire school! And when I refer to 'everyone,' I mean the girls! The guys don't care, all they care about is the football team…"

Naminé's eyebrows rose even higher. She wasn't one to judge, but… "Is that why you're going out with Sora?"

Kairi looked somewhat offended. "Of course not! I've known Sora since… well, forever! I would never be that shallow. I'm not like all the other girls in the school."

"I should certainly hope not." Naminé swirled the drink in her glass airily.

"Naminé." Kairi looked pleadingly at her before noticing the smile on Naminé's face.

"Come on, Kairi, especially after today, I would never seriously think that about you." Naminé took a sip of her drink. "Really."

"Good." Kairi took a large gulp from her milkshake. "Anyways. Back to Sora, Roxas, and Riku." Naminé rolled her eyes.

"One-third of the female population wants to kill me. Another third is going to die once Riku graduates. And the last third are all vying for your cousin's attention."

"Seriously? _Roxas?"_ Naminé couldn't help but laugh. "He's so… he's so _lame."_

Now it was Kairi's turn to raise her eyebrows. "Lame? Tell that to all his fans. And," she looked at Naminé queerly, "I thought you two were close. That's what he said."

"Oh, well…" Just because they were "close" cousins, Naminé couldn't insult him and get away with it? Maybe Roxas was nicer than he put on. "That's why I'm perfectly entitled to insult him…" she trailed off, rather feebly, hoping that Kairi wouldn't see through her excuse.

Thankfully, Kairi did. There was a somewhat estranged pause, and then Kairi laughed. "I suppose. I've known Roxas for a long time too, and I suppose I do insult him. I call him Roxie sometimes." She leaned in towards Naminé. "It bothers him _so much."_

Naminé laughed. "I think I'll try that when I get back today. Roxie. Oh God, he'll totally kill me."

Kairi was now looking idly at her nails. "If he does, just report back to me and I'll get Sora on his case."

Naminé smiled. Kairi looked at her watch. "Oh damn," and she jumped up. "I'm so sorry, but it's getting late, and I've got piano lessons in an hour. Have to do some last-minute practice, you know…"

Naminé stood up too. "Piano lessons at this age?" she teased.

"I've been playing since I was five. My teacher wouldn't let me quit, so I guess I have to keep playing."

"Ew, that sucks."

"I know, but what can I do? My parents want me to do it too." Kairi waved. "See you tomorrow, Naminé!"

Naminé waved and smiled. "See you."

She walked the short distance back (after Kairi had pointed her in the right direction) in five minutes. She burst into the apartment – it was only September, and it was already getting chilly.

"Naminé?" Roxas was in the kitchen.

"Yeah, hi." Naminé dropped off her coat in her room and then went into the kitchen. She found Sora sitting at the table, talking to Roxas.

"Hey!" Sora greeted her cheerfully. Naminé smiled obligingly at him. Roxas was cooking dinner.

"What are you doing here?" Naminé asked him as she took plates from a cabinet. "Is he staying for dinner?" she addressed Roxas.

Sora looked nervous. "Homework and all… Roxas here's helping me. And Roxas said I could stay to eat."

Naminé raised her eyebrows as she set a plate in front of him. "Homework on the first day? All I've got is a bunch of syllabuses to sign. Lots of work, I imagine."

Roxas turned from the stove to scowl at her. "We were, in fact, discussing something very important."

Naminé's eyebrows rose even higher. "Oh really, Roxie?"

He had turned around to face the stove again, but when he turned the nickname, he whipped around. _"What_ did you just call me?"

Naminé smiled gleefully. Sora looked amused. "I think she just called you 'Roxie.'" Sora was laughing maniacally.

"Thanks, Sora." Roxas shot his best friend (who was now rolling on the floor) a mock-hurt look. He turned to Naminé. "Don't _ever_ call me that."

"Of course." Naminé inclined her head. "Roxie."

He glared at her. "If I didn't actually want to eat what I was cooking, I would throw the pan at you."

Sora stopped laughing. "You'd have to let me eat what's in it first, Roxie."

-

**Author's Note:**

Sorry for the wait! Wow, this chapter was actually really difficult to write. I'm sorry if it doesn't have enough stuff in it! D8 I guess it's kind of a let's-meet-everyone-else chapter until we get the plot rolling more! I've got plans for this story but I've got to work it until then :) Please review! Tell me what you think of it – comments, complaints, questions, and flames are all accepted. I really appreciate all feedback for this story. Thanks!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The next couple of weeks passed uneventfully as Naminé grew accustomed to her new environment. The homework was manageable, the teachers generally nice enough, and her newfound circle of friends was pleasant (except for a rather irate Roxas, who would always get supremely annoyed when Naminé called him "Roxie").

It was now the time for the homecoming assembly. True, the football team at the private school wasn't big, and it couldn't compare with the public schools' teams, but they did play other private schools in the area. It was Monday; the game was on Friday and the dance on Saturday. All the students were ushered into the gymnasium for the Homecoming Kick-Off Assembly.

Naminé was sitting next to Kairi as they waited for the assembly to begin. The two had become fast friends and Kairi was, by far, Naminé's best friend at the school.

The gym was loud, and in Naminé's opinion, the majority of the students were obnoxious. Thankfully, she had brought the new sketchbook she had bought over the weekend with her – it provided inexpressible comfort in times of need.

Kairi saw Naminé pulling out the book and frowned. "Naminé, don't draw now, the assembly's about to start!" She tried tugging it away. Naminé did not look up.

"I'm busy."

"Naminé," Kairi whined, "don't you want to find out what the themes are?"

"Not particularly." Naminé had never really been enchanted by high school.

"Well – oh look! They're starting." Kairi avidly watched class presidents and officers spilled onto the gym floor.

Naminé continued sketching. What she was sketching she didn't know, but if she drew a couple lines something would come to her.

A couple minutes passed as Naminé diligently blocked out sound from the assembly, but suddenly Kairi ferociously pulled the book out of her hands (making her accidentally draw a line down the middle of the sketch). "What?"

Kairi stowed the sketchbook on the side away from Naminé. "They're announcing the themes now!"

"I – what – fine, I'll listen." Naminé looked bored as the officers yelled into microphones.

"This year's theme is 'When In Rome'!" There was a deafening roar from all sides of the gymnasium. Apparently this theme was much better than the year before. Naminé crossed her arms.

"And for each class, we have the following: for the freshman, Olympians!" A screen flashed an image of people throwing discuses and running.

Naminé frowned. The Olympics were Greek, not Roman. And technically, if you were to call someone an Olympian, that meant that they were one of the Greek gods… not exactly fitting for the fresh meat of the school.

"Sophomores – Argonauts!" A boy dressed in a pirate outfit ran in front of the sophomores' section of the gym.

Naminé raised her eyebrows. _Jason and the Argonauts. Greek. Again. And they weren't pirates. Fools._ She winced, and waited for her theme to be called.

"The juniors are the gladiators!"

That would have been fitting if real gladiators were like the ones in the movie. However, it was not meant to be – gladiators were essentially slaves called upon for brutish entertainment.

"And the seniors are the GODS!" Naminé could see the announcer talking in capital letters. There came a roar from the seniors.

Naminé's frown grew. _You've already used the gods._ She couldn't listen anymore to these politically incorrect people blunder around. She grabbed her sketchbook back from a starry-eyed Kairi and returned to her drawings.

-

"Come on, Naminé, we have to go to the dance!" It was now after school, and Kairi was dragging Naminé through the mall, looking at dresses for the dance.

Naminé shrugged. "I don't know if I want to."

"You do want to." Kairi pulled Naminé inside of a store exclusively for dress shopping. "And we're all going in a big group, too, so you don't need to worry about dates." She looked critically at a green dress hanging in the front of the store. "Creates too much drama, you know."

Naminé nodded rather halfheartedly. She had never been to a school dance before and was sure any dancing ability her parents had was lost on her.

They hung around the store a while, Naminé putting away Kairi's unwanted dresses. After about an hour, Kairi finally settled on one and bought it.

"Good." Naminé pulled Kairi's arm. "Can we go now?"

Kairi looked at Naminé as if she were crazy. "No, of course not! We have to get you a dress too."

Naminé blushed. "I don't wear dresses. I don't dance, period."

"Well then… you wear dresses now, and you can stand and look pretty." Kairi looked around. "I think I saw one earlier that would have been _perfect_ for you…"

"I don't want to try on fifty dresses like you did." Naminé stood there helplessly as Kairi ran around the store.

"You won't!" Kairi called from the other side of the store. "Get over here!" The cashier didn't look pleased.

"Sorry, we'll be out of here soon…" she trailed off as she walked past the cashier to find Kairi. When she did, she saw Kairi holding a dress of lapis lazuli blue.

"Isn't it pretty?" Kairi gushed. "I think it'll really bring out your eyes."

Naminé recoiled slightly. Kairi was shoving it in her face, and it really was a very blue dress. "I don't know, Kairi…"

"Just try it on." Kairi shoved her into a dressing room, put the dress on a rack, and left the room.

Naminé sighed as she eyed the dress. One dress couldn't hurt, could it? She resignedly pulled it on (with some difficulty) and stepped out. Kairi had been idly playing on her cell phone and looked up. "It looks great, Naminé."

"I still don't know." Naminé looked at herself appraisingly in the mirror. It didn't look too horrible…

"I think you should get it. We'll get shoes tomorrow." Kairi waved her back in the room. "Change back and you can buy it."

Naminé spluttered. "How do I know this is the best dress? What if – what if there's a better one?"

"Weren't you the one that wanted this to be painless?"

"Yes, but – "

"It's a good dress. You look fantastic. Just get it."

Naminé sighed again. Kairi could be so pushy sometimes. She changed back into her normal clothes and rather reluctantly purchased the dress.

As they walked out of the store, Naminé checked her cell phone. Three missed calls – from Roxas. Why was he – "Oh damn!" Naminé muttered as Kairi chattered on about another store they could go to for shoes.

"What?" Kairi was confused.

"It's my turn today to buy groceries, and it's getting late. He's probably get kind of mad when I get home – I have to call him, maybe he can do it for me… it'll take me longer to get to the store anyways…" Naminé feverishly pressed the "call" button as Kairi looked amused.

After two rings Roxas picked up. "Naminé?"

"Yeah, hi, I'm _so_ sorry, I didn't get the groceries today, was out with Kairi…"

Naminé could almost see him shrugging (probably because there was some blond boy a significant distance in front of them who shrugged too). "Whatever."

She glared at her phone. He was so indifferent to… everything. "So, then, what do you want to do for dinner?" She turned around as Kairi gestured wildly at a shoe store. So much for buying shoes tomorrow.

"Maybe we can eat out or something… I – " The pause was audible, and she heard laughing in the background. It sounded like Sora.

"You what?" Naminé looked quizzically at the phone. "Is that Sora?"

"Yeah, I – turn around."

"Excuse me?" She stopped walking. Kairi turned around from her sojourn to look at her.

"_Turn around."_

"Why?" She asked suspiciously. "You don't know where I am…"

"Actually, I do – "

Kairi shrieked. "Sora! Roxas! Riku!" She was looking behind Naminé.

She whipped around. There the three of them stood, Sora laughing hysterically, Roxas looking peeved (and closing his phone), and Riku looking idly at his nails. So the blond boy shrugging had been Roxas. Funny.

Kairi greeted the emphatically as Naminé smiled politely. It transpired that the three of them had been in the store across from them, looking at tuxedos. Sora had apparently ruined the other two's tuxedos the year before, due to a freak accident involving a plate of spaghetti and a glass of soda water.

"Speaking of food," Riku interjected, "I think we should all go out to eat now, because it's nearing six and I'm getting hungry." He had not spoken during the entire exchange.

"Yeah! Let's get food!" Sora was extremely happy at the mention of food.

"Sure, if you want," Roxas said. "We don't exactly have anything edible at home." He looked at the ground as he said this.

Naminé glared at him. "Lapse of memory, okay? Don't make such a big deal out of it."

"Fine." Roxas shrugged nonchalantly. Naminé scoffed.

Kari clasped her hands together. "Guys, let's just go now."

And on this note the conversation ended, and they went off to eat.

-

**Author's Note:**

Hey everyone! Again, sorry for the wait. This is a pretty short one because you guys will get a longer one next! Weak ending for this one, I know, but I'm trying! 8D;; I'm having a pretty eventful summer. Thanks to all of you that reviewed! And please, _please_ review if you read this story. I really appreciate all feedback, good or bad. It will help my writing improve. :)

Thanks to xxKingdom-Hearts-Fanxx, MiracleXofXlight, way2lonely, Pretty Much Blah (hahahaha), crashx, Bloc-9, and Conductor of Darkness for reviewing!


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